Improve your game

I have played professionally all over the world, and represented New Zealand at international level. I sometimes cannot believe that this great game has taken me so many places, and allowed me to play with – and against – so many fantastic people.

Today, I like to think I am giving something back to the game that has given me so much. The final part of my polo dream is the New Zealand Polo School.

The school, with its playing field, stables, and purpose-built facilities, welcomes players from all over the world, whether they are beginners, experienced players wanting to sharpen their game, or Gap-year students looking to broaden their horizons.

The school is right beside our home, purpose-built with quality guest quarters to house the polo students.

The school’s training programme has evolved over 15 years into one that not only gets results, but gets results quickly – not just for the aspiring professional, but also for novices intent on learning the game.

I also pride myself on the quality of my polo ponies, which, with the New Zealand dollar, prove to be very competitively priced on the international market. My ponies have been exported all over the globe.

Polo lessons in New Zealand can easily be built into a southern hemisphere holiday, where you can enjoy the unspoilt South Pacific and bask in some summer weather from November to March.

Players of all abilities, from as far as England, Australia, the United States, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East have come to improve their game. They have left better players. They have developed better focus, and a greater appreciation of what it takes to become a better polo player.

All took the time to enjoy some of the dozens of attractions the beautiful South Island has to offer, be it snow skiing, surfing, tramping, fishing, bungy jumping, or taking in the nightlife of nearby Christchurch, a city of more than 350,000 people.

The polo school began after some of the players in overseas competitions expressed an interest in coming to New Zealand to play. We have had a lot of fun over the years. New Zealand is a great place to play polo. There is competition at many levels, and games on every weekend during the season, from November to March.

Fortune – and hard work – has allowed me to turn a love of this game into a career. Every minute has been fun, from the exhilaration of winning in a 24-goal competition to the satisfaction of seeing a novice making their first real strides in the game.

"Let other people play at other things. The king of games is still the game of kings."

- verse inscribed in stone next to a polo field in Gilgit, north of Kashmir, near the fabled silk route from China to the West.

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